Judge Denies Request On Skull

October 11, 2002|By JOSH KOVNER; Courant Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — When the defense lawyer in the murder trial of Dwight Pink Jr. demanded Thursday that the reconstructed skull of the victim be brought into the courtroom, it was more than Scott Rufin's father could take.

Calling the lawyer a derogatory name, Joseph F. Rufin said, ``That was nothing more than a charade. ... Are you going to bring the body of a murder victim in here?''

Rufin, a retired IBM executive up from New Orleans for Pink's trial, squared off with a pony-tailed Norman Pattis, one of Connecticut's most aggressive criminal lawyers, outside the jury's presence, with only the gallery railing between them in the Court Street courthouse in Middletown.

``If you don't want to be here, don't be here,'' said Pattis, who is defending Pink against charges that he shot and stabbed Rufin to death in 1998, then helped dispose of the body in the Chester woods. The skeletal remains were not found until two years later.

``But the effect on the family is not going to trump my client's rights,'' Pattis said.

Pattis said he needed the skull to disprove the state's account of the murder. Before the exchange, Superior Court Judge Richard W. Dyer had denied Pattis' request. A hearing on the matter continues today.

But he wasn't done. Once in the hallway, Pattis approached Dr. Thomas Gilchrist, an associate state medical examiner. Gilchrist had testified outside of the jury's presence about the bullet wounds he detected in Rufin's skull. He did it the usual way -- with photographs.

``Doctor, bring the skull in with you on Tuesday. You will be getting a subpoena,'' Pattis said.

``No -- you'll be asking the judge if you can subpoena me,'' Gilchrist responded.

``You'll be in contempt, sir -- I never say die,'' Pattis said, wheeling and heading for the elevator.

Rufin's skull, reconstructed by a forensic technician, is stored at the chief state medical examiner's office in Farmington.

Prosecutor Russell Zentner said he had never heard of such a request in nearly 13 years of trial work.

Pattis argued that the jury needs to see the skull -- in part because no photos of the skull's interior exist, and because Gilchrist said in testimony outside the jury's presence that he couldn't pin down the number and trajectory of bullet wounds.

But the judge said he saw a flaw in the reasoning. Dyer asked if Pattis was suggesting body parts should be exhumed in every murder case, whenever questions arise about the nature of exit and entrance wounds.

Pattis argued that the unique circumstances of this case demanded that the state produce the skull. Wednesday, Pink's former probation officer testified that Pink, of Portland, confessed to shooting Rufin once on the right side of his head and four times on the left side, before stabbing him repeatedly in the heart with a sword or machete.

Pink's alleged partner in the murder, Marc Celeste, uncharged and on the lam, has bragged to a police informant that the killing of the 35-year-old Rufin of Westbrook -- a father of two sons who had operated a marina on the shoreline -- was a mob hit.